Testicular neoplasia constitutes a chapter of particular interest in oncology, given its increased curability in comparison with most solid tumors. Early diagnosis is important because it allows the patients to be treated in the first stages of the disease, in which morbidity associated with therapy is minimal, and increased survival represents certitude.

The medical staff, as well as the general population, must be advised upon suggestive signs and symptoms, and also on the imaging characteristics of such cancers (ultrasound and CAT scans being in the spotlight), so that the period of time until confirmation of the diagnosis (by pathology exam) – which in turn influences therapy decision – is obtained may be as short as possible.

Surgery represents a very important component of multimodal therapeutic strategy for patients diagnosed with testicular cancer, both for low/volume tumors and for the more advanced stages of disease. Surgical interventions (orchiectomy, retroperitoneal lymph node resection with or without sympathic nerve preservation, resection of singular metastases) contribute decisively to the high percentage of long term cures, and can play a role in increasing the survival of patients with chemoresistant metastatic disease.

Chemotherapy is mandatory in the treatment of locally advanced and metastasis seminomatous germ cell tumors (GCT). This may be seen also as an option to annihilate possible pathology diagnostic errors (mostly due to lack of tumour marker dosing) which determine a non-seminomatous GCT to be treated as a seminoma, thus greatly diminishing therapeutic efficacy.

There are several chemotherapeutic agents with extremely efficient activity on seminomatous testicular tumours, but the etoposide/cisplatin protocol remains still the gold standard. Non-seminomatous GCTs have a lesser response to chemotherapy and therefore a higher relapse rate and a poorer prognosis.